So...I have 2 essays due friday and a midterm tomorrow (tomorrow meaning in 14 hours)...and I haven't really done much for any of it. but luckily I have every desperate university student's secret weapons: obscene amounts of caffeine and a predisposition toward insomnia.

but why do we do this to ourselves? are procrastinators self-destructive? poor time managers? or just plain ol dumb and lazy? thoughts????

Dumb and lazy I'd say... have a report due on tuesday... not even started on it.

Hey no worries Spydar, we all do it, and so long as we get our stuff done on time, there's no reason to stress about it.

I procrastinate like nothing and nobody else. Right now I'm writing a paper for my class tomorrow morning - it's now 4am and the lecture is at 11am. I'm not going to sleep at all, I'm just going to finish this essay, hand in my paper, sit in class for an hour bug-eyed and miserable, then come home and crash the rest of the day. Whatever works, right? [img]smile.gif[/img]

I'm not sure exactly why they give us deadlines - you can't squeeze talent out of artists, just gotta let it flow at it's own rate ;) . Anyway, you have to be in the right mood for working. That mood? Last minute panic... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Different people procrastinate for different reasons. I often do it because of the way I view 'work'. I often view my university assignments as a chore, rather than as a priviledge or interesting undertaking. As a result, I try to avoid doing them for as long as humanly possible. Whereas, I find myself constantly thinking about drinking, hanging out, playing computer games because I classify them as stress-free fun.

It's not that I'm lazy, or that i dont think, I just don't think about the things that will get me academic marks. I could easily write a 20,000 word dissertation on Baldur's Gate, in fact, it'd be a pleasure, because I associate that particular game with pleasure.

Associate your studies with pleasure, and they cease to be work. You no longer avoid them, but actually WANT to get stuck into them. It's really hard to do at first, but eventually it becomes habit. And, if you find that you just can't get enthusiastic about whatever you're studying, then maybe you need to ask yourself if you really want to be taking your life in this direction anyway.

Hmmm.........deep........

Just get on with it you idle little toe-rags! It's for your own benefit to put the effort in, and your parents money is paying for you to have the privilege of a college (Uni) education. So do the right thing by your parents and put the effort in.

Rant over....... :D

I got a tight schedule to fulfill. I'm more or less a third of the way through one paper, can't get myself to concentrate on the other, and have four articles to read for my test. it is now 3:15 am, test is at 2 pm. so the plan is: finish all my studying for this test, write it, crash for a few hours, wake up at 9 pm or so, finish one essay by 1 or 2 am, finish the other (which will be roughly 1000 words less than the first, hence doing it last) whenever, crash for another few hours, hand in the papers, nap if there's time, and then go to work at 5 pm till 12, go home and craaaaaash. I may be a little delirious and uncoordinated, but I've done it many times before and will do it many times again.
and people tell me I have no time managment skills ;)


I'm convinced that my best work is done in the wee morning hours the night before the due date. that's when I'm smartest, when everything makes sense. ask me a question at 2 pm and I'll stare blankly, ask me the same question at 2 am and I'll be able to give you not only an explanation but 5 examples.


and here's a little paradox for my fellow procrastinators to ponder: If my life's ambition is to become a world-class procrastinator, can I ever fulfill it?

[ 04-01-2004, 05:34 AM: Message edited by: spydar ]

IMO students always leave stuff like this for the last moment, because they don't like doing it, and they shall only start doing it when they feel that it is worth avoiding the negative consequences.

BTW I as a student also leave everything to the last minute (day, hour, week, etc.).

When I was still a student, I then to finished up my assignment/ school project as early as possible. However, much to my annoyment other students will copy my whole work. For example while I was in Senior 1 and we got this Geography Project to do. I was the first to finish it ( as usual ). You know the entire Senior 1 students go and photostat my work and copy straight without any changes. [img]graemlins/madhell.gif[/img]

So I suppose there is an advantage of doing things in the last minute. No one would copy up your work. ;)

I was gonna ansewer this, but I never got around to it.

Yep, just got done going through that last semester. Got accused of scholastic dishonesty because other students copied my work (actually our work, since it was a group project, but I did most of it myself). At least they found out the responsible students and I got off the hook.

I just got out of a Corporate Tax Accounting test 45 minutes ago (essentially a law class, due to all of the regulations involved). Of course I waited until today to really hit the books (took off from work to study for it). It was bad, but I think it would have been bad even if I studied 1000 hours for the damn thing (everyone else was walking out after 80 minutes like I was complaining about it). I have another test on Saturday morning; I will be doing all of the practice tests for that online class tomorrow night (haven't touched the stuff in a week...).

So, I guess I can understand procrastination. The worst was writing 2 papers in 3 days (first was a 20 page paper due on the second day, then a 10 page paper due in another class on the third day). Of course, waiting until the last second on the second paper, I figured that the research would back up my theory, so I wrote the paper expounding my theory, then waited for the research to come in to back it up. Then the research came, and it completely disproved my theory, so I had to completely re-write the paper. For both papers, I pulled 2 all-nighters in a row (2 full 24 hour days and into the third day). Of course, I didn't have a computer at the time, and the lab computers went down right smack in the middle of typing the second paper (I was so glad just to get rid of that thing). When I finished each paper, I just went up to the instructor's office, handed them the paper, and told them that I would be missing class that day. And the worst part is that I had to work that day after finishing the second paper; I went home, slept two hours, and had a 10 hour day of hell on a busy Friday night (pizza cook).

I try not to procrastine too much anymore (that 2 paper incident taught me that), but I still find myself doing it all of the time. I guess I just need to be disciplined about it.

Ahh procrastination. All to familiar with me. I still remember 2 years ago, when my youth pastor asked me to teach a lesson. He gave me one week to prepare. Sunday comes around and what am I doing 15 minutes before I'm supposed to teach? Flipping pages trying to put a lesson together. I succeded, well sort of. The lesson I came up with, while covering the topic, only lasted about 20 minutes and it was supposed to last at least 45 minutes. Not that I was being graded on it for anything. I just kinda fell through on that one.

My problem at the time was simply poor prioritizing skills. My current problem is the same with a few improvements made.

well I wrote my test, am fairly comfortable with it. not going to say confident, cause as soon as I say that I get a crappy grade back, so I'll just say comfortable.

but now I have to still write my papers. ever get to the point where you're just so very beyond caring? I...just...don't...care ANYMORE!!! not a good place to be, I realize, and yet...here I am.